Gradient Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 568 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Gradient Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) by 18.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,573 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 568 shares during the quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMGN. Coston McIsaac & Partners bought a new stake in Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Heritage Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amgen during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 420.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 130 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Amgen by 51.1% during the 1st quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. 75.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amgen

In other Amgen news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.54, for a total value of $159,979.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,009 shares in the company, valued at $3,818,661.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Price Performance

Shares of AMGN traded down $0.79 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $258.91. 87,182 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,969,736. The company has a market cap of $138.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.67. Amgen Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.39 and a fifty-two week high of $296.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $273.21 and its 200 day moving average is $257.04.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 3rd. The medical research company reported $4.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. Amgen had a return on equity of 287.23% and a net margin of 25.96%. Amgen’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amgen Inc. will post 17.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be given a $2.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 14th. This is an increase from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.94. This represents a $8.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AMGN shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Amgen from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Amgen from $299.00 to $293.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Amgen from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Amgen from $279.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Amgen from $266.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.57.

Amgen Profile

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Amgen, Inc is a biotechnology company, which engages in the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of human therapeutics. Its products include the following brands: Aranesp, Aimovig, KANJINTI, EVENITY, AMGEVITA, AVSOLA, BLINCYTO, MVASI, Corlanor, Enbrel, EPOGEN, IMLYGIC, Kyprolis, Neulasta, NEUPOGEN, Nplate, Parsabiv, Prolia, Repatha, Sensipar, Vectibix, Otezla, RIABNI, and XGEVA.